I was able to spend some time with my Mum over the Xmas/New Year’s break gardening. God it was fun, I learned a lot and it was good to just listen. We worked hard, and I would catch glimpses of her in the afternoon sunlight. She is at her most beautiful, most alive when she’s in a garden. For all of her “boomer facade”, gardening is where she is genuinely herself.
She has a very good friend and they spend quite a lot of time together gardening and playing checkers. They go on bus trips and I love that they fill a need for each other. When your partner is no longer there, life can get very lonely and kids don’t fill the space that a peer can (nor should they). Her friend is 85 now. He’s shaky, all but deaf, still smokes like a chimney and is as sharp as a tack. Over Xmas, he gave me the most delicious homegrown bananas and honey. (I had forgotten how good a banana can taste!)
Imagine my shock when Mum casually told me one afternoon that they’re half way through cutting down his banana trees ready for the next season. Full size bloody banana trees. Just her and him, a rope, a rusty old ladder and a hacksaw. WTAF?
I contemplated giving her a lecture about asking for help (I mean they have 6 kids between them), but I know my Mum. Her friend is just as bad. I think it’s a generational thing, that “just get it done” and “if you stop, you die” mentality. We can baulk at it, but here’s the thing – without that mentality, we wouldn’t be here and with all the strife over “BOOMERS”, there’s a lot to be thankful for.
So instead of a lecture, I decided to create a portrait of these two to enter into the National Photographic Portrait Prize. I’m stoked with it, though I’ll sit with it for a little while longer before I hit submit. I feel like I’m looking at a photo from my childhood and it makes my heart happy. (I’m looking beyond the height of the bananas trees though🫣) Can’t wait to print it and see it come alive!

Until next time,
